FONTANA >> City officials are working on an updated roadmap leading into the future. And they are seeking residents’ help.

“We are trying to get the public involved,” Mayor Acquanetta Warren said of the first major update of the city’s general plan in more than a decade.

Starting Dec. 7, the city of Fontana will host a number of neighborhood open houses in an effort to collect comments from a diverse group of city residents.

“One of the problems is that residents are relatively happy with the way things are going in Fontana,” Warren said last week.

A “Community Opinion Survey” released in October found that 69 percent of Fontana residents rated the quality of life in their city excellent or good.

That kind of satisfaction isn’t likely to result in many attending one of the five open houses held throughout the city from Dec. 7 to Dec. 9, Warren said.

Most residents perceive that the quality of life in Fontana has followed an upward trend for the past five years and 33 percent believe it has at least remained stable, said the survey conducted by True North Research in Encinitas.

The survey found that among those who would like to see changes:

• 9 percent wanted more businesses and jobs coming to Fontana.

• 9 percent wanted improved public safety.

• 9 percent wanted improved schools.

• 8 percent wanted improving the city’s appearance and cleanliness.

Warren said that before she was elected to city council she co-chaired the committee that directed the current general plan, which was adopted in October 2003.

“I got to live with the plan (as council member first, then as two-term mayor) and God has let me work on the next one,” Warren said.

“This plan is important. It will be our blueprint for the next 20 years,” Warren said.

After years of talking to many Fontana residents, Warren said she is convinced that there is a tremendous need for more affordable housing in the city.

“Our own kids can’t afford to live here,” she said. “If they want to move out of their parent’s house, they need to go to another city,” Warren said.

The General Plan will be updated to include specific plans for downtown and to incorporate health and wellness features coming out of the Healthy Fontana program, which was created in 2004, said James R. Troyer, director of community development.

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